A Pace Picante Sauce 1990s ad campaign best explains Cruz’s campaign: they featured groups of cowboys asking for picante sauce, with one cowboy foolishly offering a generic brand. A more knowledgeable cowboy always informed him: “Pace Picante sauce is made in San Antonio, with fresh vegetables, spices by people who know what picante sauce is supposed to taste, this stuff’s made in New York City!”

Needless to say, a New York-based ad agency, Young & Rubicam, actually created the campaign [Pace pokes more fun at NYC, by Theresa Howard, USA Today, November 7, 2004]. The agency had initially planned to use “New Jersey” instead of New York City, but decided the latter had a better ring to it.

At the most recent debate, Cruz repeated the “New York, New York” line and added that “Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media.” Cruz then dug up a more-than-sixteen-year old video in which Trump explained he was pro-choice, because

“I mean, hey, I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, OK? So, you know, my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa perhaps, but it’s not something that would disturb me.”

I doubt that these Cruz attacks will go anywhere. Trump owned the New York mantle at the January 14 debate, and deftly brought up the city’s reaction to 9-11.

(Incidentally, a few years ago, someone made a post-9-11 parody of the ad on YouTube, where after screaming “New York City” the cowboys put their hats on their chest and say “Never Forget.” The announcer then says “New York Salsa: anything else and the terrorists win!”)

But Cruz’s biggest problem is that this debate opens the door for scrutiny of his own New York donors and corporate background.

Coincidentally, in the last week, we learned Ted Cruz fibbed about two incidents in his political career. Normally, I would not really care. However, these two incidents show a candidate clumsily attempting to hide his corporate, big-city background.

Cruz did not report this loan on his FEC filings, which he called a “paperwork error” and suggested this was just the liberal Main Stream Media making a mountain of a molehill. But the reason people hire lawyers in the first place is to avoid such “paperwork errors” [Ted Cruz Didn’t Report Goldman Sachs Loan in a Senate Race, by Mike McIntire, New York Times, January 13, 2015]

Ted Cruz often talks about how the Bush administration slighted him by not offering him a job in the administration despite his top academic credentials and legal work for the campaign. He ended up with a non-political position at the Federal Trade Commission.

But the Associated Press has reported that the Bush Administration did offer Cruz a position as Associate Counsel. As Cruz’s spokesman gave a typical response that the candidate “does not recall” the specifics, we can only speculate about his motivation [Report: Ted Cruz turned down White House post after 2000 campaign, by Hanna Trudo, Politico, January 15, 2016]. But one very likely possibility: the FTC is one of the best places to work in order to transition into the most profitable practice groups at a corporate law firm. And indeed Cruz later became a partner at Morgan Lewis, a major Philadelphia-based firm [Ted Cruz made $1million as a lawyer while campaigning for Senate in 2012, by Emily Wilkins, Dallas Morning News, August 4, 2013]

Cruz’s campaign explained this by saying, “There are many in New York who don’t embrace the big government, liberal values that a large portion of the Manhattan elites do, and we are immensely grateful for their support." [Cruz hates New York values — but likes New York money, by Jonathan Swan, The Hill, January 15, 2016]

This quote shows a significant shift in Cruz’s definition of “New York Values.” At the debate, described New York Values as gay marriage and abortion. Now “Manhattan elites” are bad because they support “big government.”

While Cruz has said opposing gay marriage would be “front and center of his campaign,” when the white shoe New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell hosted a fundraiser for him, he explicitly disavowed that it would be a top issue for him. [What Ted Cruz said behind closed doors, by Mike Allen, Politico, December 23, 2015].

It’s not that these New York connections should disqualify Cruz. But there’s a clear discrepancy between his populist Texas persona and his actual background and backers. Like Pace Picante, he advertises himself as a Texas original after he received positive feedback from PR firms based in New York City, while receiving money from Goldman Sachs.

Donald Trump has never pretended to be anything other than what he is, a member of the New York cultural and business elite. Indeed, part of his appeal is that his wealth relieves him from needing to kiss up to hedge fund managers and investment bankers, unlike Cruz and other candidates.